1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
2 Set ye up an ensign upon the bare mountain, lift up the voice unto them,
wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. 3 I have
commanded my consecrated ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for mine
anger, even my proudly exulting ones. 4 The noise of a multitude in the
mountains, as of a great people! the noise of a tumult of the kingdoms of the
nations gathered together! Jehovah of hosts is mustering the host for the
battle. 5 They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven,
even Jehovah, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
6 Wail ye; for the day of Jehovah is at hand; as destruction from the
Almighty shall it come. 7 Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every
heart of man shall melt: 8 and they shall be dismayed; pangs and sorrows
shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman in travail:
they shall look in amazement one at another; their faces shall be
faces of flame. 9 Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel, with wrath and
fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners
thereof out of it. 10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations
thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in its going
forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine. 11 And I will
punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity:
and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the
haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make a man more rare than fine
gold, even a man than the pure gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the
heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, in the
wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. 14 And it
shall come to pass, that as the chased roe, and as sheep that no man
gathereth, they shall turn every man to his own people, and shall flee every
man to his own land. 15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through;
and every one that is taken shall fall by the sword. 16 Their infants also
shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be rifled,
and their wives ravished. 17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against
them, who shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in
it. 18 And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces; and they
shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare
children. 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the
Chaldeans' pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It
shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to
generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall
shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. 21 But wild beasts of the
desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures;
and ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there. 22 And
wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces: and
her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.